Neither Truth Nor Lie
by Bobby South
Summary: A ToddxPenny story. When Todd leaves L.A., none of his friends know where he has gone and goes looking for him. But there are more difficulties than just finding him; might he ever even want to go back with them?
1. Chapter 1

Todd Chavez yawned. Today was going to be another one of his busy yet hopefully productive days. He had been very busy for a long while helping with Mr. Peanutbutter's Governor of California campaign and helping with Princess Carlyon's clients. Though he was grateful that for working and proving his worth, he was getting quite tired and he felt like he was in a need of a vacation.

After clearing Mr. Peanutbutter's and Diane's breakfast, the mailman came with the mail. After sorting it, he discovered that he had a letter for himself. He opened it and read it. It was from his best friend Emily. It said that she had opened a new business with some of the money she made from their former company Cabracadabra. There was an invitation for her presentation at a Battery Hotel in Ohio.

Then he got a call from Princess Carlyon. "Hello?"

"Todd, I need you to get me some beer for tonight."

"Beer? Great!" Todd cried happily. "What are we celebrating?"

"They're not for us," Princess Carlyon. "They're for Sean Bean."

"Who?" Todd asked. "That famous funny clumsy TV star from England?"

"No, not Mr. Bean played by Rowan Atkinson," Princess Carlyon sighed. "Sean Bean."

"You mean that other clumsy TV star that went to star in Andrew Lloyd Webber's _The Phantom of the Opera_?"

"What? What are you talking about? That's Michael Crawford! How is there any connection between – " Princess Carlyon sighed. "Look, Sean Bean is an English actor who was in _Game of Thrones_ , _Flightplan_ , _The Martian_ , that James Bond film _Goldeneye_ and _Lord of the Rings_.

"Oh, yeah, I finally remember him now," Todd said. "He was Gimli the dwarf. Or was it Tyrion Lannister?"

Princess Carlyon sighed again. "Anyway, he wants to drink English beer for tonight's World Cup match. Just find what you can."

Todd went to the nearest supermarket and found a whole crate of English beer. It cost him all the money he had left. He hoped Princess Carlyon would pay him enough for a plane ticket to Ohio for this job.

Then as he crossed the road he saw a sunflower oil truck approaching him fast. He was too scared to move but he held onto dear life onto the crate of beer. Luckily, the truck stopped.

The driver, a bald eagle, popped his head out of the window. "What are you doing standing in the middle like that, you idiot?"

"Uh, I was just, eh – " Todd didn't have a clue. "I'm in a hurry."

"Is that English beer?" the driver asked.

"Yeah," Todd said.

"If you give me that beer, I'll give you a ride to wherever it is you're going to in a hurry."

Todd tried to remember where he was supposed to be. "I remember now. Ohio."

"That's my destination," the driver cried happily. "Climb aboard."

Todd gleefully did.

* * *

It was a long 33 mile drive to Ohio, but Todd enjoyed it. He kept asking the driver a lot of questions like what his favourite meal was, what his idea of the meaning of life was and when he lost his virginity. Halfway, they pulled off for the night and they both slept like a couple of logs. They arrived at Ohio at seven o'clock at night. Todd paid the driver with the crate of English beer and he went off to find this hotel Emily was at. He had forgotten what it was called so he searched his bag for his invitation, only to find out that he didn't have his bag with him, which meant he didn't have the invitation with him so he couldn't get into the hotel even if he could remember which one it was. Then he remembered he hadn't even got any money because he was suppose to be give that beer that he spent his last cents on for Sean Bean last night that he gave to the truck driver. Therefore, he had travelled all the way to Ohio for nothing. Never feeling so stupid in his life, he groaned and fainted.

* * *

Todd finally woke up. He didn't know how long he was asleep or passed out for, but he felt fresh as a daisy. He saw that he was on a beach. He didn't know what he was doing on a beach. He couldn't even remember why he came to Ohio.

As he explored the beach to gather his thoughts, something in the sea caught his attention. He thought he could see something floating in the sea. He went closer and saw it wasn't something, it was somebody. And that somebody wearing a strapless blue swimsuit looked like she was drowned. He couldn't see a lifeguard nearby. He took off his yellow beanie, his red hoodie and his white shirt off and dived into the sea. He swam to the lady, grabbed her and brought her to the beach. He turned her around and saw she was a young lady deer.

Todd opened her mouth and started to perform CRP on her. Then she finally gasped and stood up. She appeared to be confused at where she was. She gasped when she looked at Todd and backed away nervously. "Who are you?"

"You were unconscious in the sea, so I brought you out from it and performed CRP on you," Todd said. Then he quickly received an unexpected hug from the deer.

"Thank you very much for saving my life," the deer said. "I'm Penny Carson, by the way."

"Name's Todd," Todd said. "So how did you get into your moonlight swim?"

Penny told him her story. One of her friends borrowed his dad's yacht and he hosted a party for their friends to take their minds off the upcoming final exams. There was a lot of loud music, dancing and drinking. Penny was not a big drinker, but she felt that she had to drink so she didn't feel like an odd one out. She drank more than she realized and she started to throw up. She couldn't remember it probably but she thought she might flip over on the boat and fell into the sea. She thought she was in bed when she was floating in the sea. She might have thought it was too hot and that was why she took her green dress off and was now only in her swimsuit.

"It's very lucky you came here, Todd," Penny said. "Do you live here?"

"No, I come from L.A.," Todd said. "I don't really have a home or a purpose in life. What about you?"

"I'm a college student," Penny said "My final exams are in four weeks and I really hope I get my degree."

"I'm sure you'll do great," Todd said. "You're a better academic student than I ever was or ever will be. Well, now that you're okay, I'll get out of your… fur so you can focus again. Take care, Penny." He started to walk away.

"Todd?" Penny called.

Todd stopped and turned around.

"Could you walk with me back to my college room?" she asked. "If you're not too busy."

"No problem," he said decisively.


	2. Chapter 2

"Henrietta, where's my glass of water?"

Bojack Horseman kept on getting more stressed ever since his mother Beatrice came to live in his house. Even though he had help from Tina Bear and Hollyhock Manheim-Mannheim-Guerrero-Robinson-Zilberschlag-Hsung-Fonzerelli-McQuack, they were getting just stressed as he was. They tried to keep to entertain her such as games like playing baby horse dolls with her and monopoly and watching episodes of _Horsin' Around_ , but as always she was not focusing due to her dementia and moaning as usual.

Bojack started to feel relived when his phone finally rang. It gave him a chance to take a break from his cruel and delusional mother. "Hello?" He tried to hear who was talking but he couldn't due to Beatrice's loud moaning and demands. He went outside and sat by the pool. "Hello?"

"Bojack, this is Princess Carlyon."

"Princess Carlyon, how are you? You found anything interesting offers for me?"

"I'm not your agent anymore, remember?"

"Oh, yeah, right." Bojack forgot that he fired Princess Carlyon as his agent at Elefante and he hasn't seen much of her since. "So what can I do for you?"

"I was wondering if Todd is with you," she said. "I gave him a job two days ago and I've had nothing but complaints from Sean Bean since."

"Sean Bean?" Bojack cried happily. "Is he that English actor who played Johnny English?"

Princess Carlyon groaned. "Oh, don't you start as well! Is Todd with you or not?"

"No, he's not. I haven't seen him for a long while." Bojack missed Todd a lot. He still regretted having sex with Emily and the last time Todd came to his house he knew he hadn't forgiven him and wasn't ready to be friends with him again. Todd was the very best friend Bojack ever had in his life and he would do anything to see him again.

Princess Carlyon sighed as she turned her phone off.

* * *

Her assistant Judah Mannowdog came in. "Mr. Joshua Titan is here to see you, Princess Carlyon."

"JOSHUA TITAN?!" She jumped in fear. Joshua Titan was one of the most respected and feared entertainment producers in the world. All the Hollywoo producers, Broadway producers, TV executives and music record executives all admired his work on them. If they were scared of him, then she knew she wouldn't stand a chance herself. "Well, don't just stand there, Judah! Let him in!" she ordered.

"Right away," Judah said as he walked out. He returned later with a leopard seal wearing a suit and a pair of glasses.

"Come in, Mr. Titan," Princess Carlyon said. "Please have a seat. What can I do for you?"

"I hope you got something good to show me, Princess Carlyon," Mr. Titan said. "And when I say good, I mean brilliant. You know me. I've never been impressed with anything Disney has ever made. I've never liked any film or TV show that Spielberg has been a part of. And whenever I hear Susan Boyle's version of _I Dreamed A Dream_ , I yawn and fall asleep every single time. Now, show me really brilliant. I'm really hungry for it."

All Princess Carlyon could do was gulp as she tried to think of something. She wished Todd was here. His ideas might have seemed odd and not what her clients were usually looking for, but he usually impressed most of them. Where could he have gone when she needed him the most?

* * *

"Bojack!" Hollyhock called.

"All right, I'm coming!" Then his phone rang. It was from his friend Diane Nguyen this time. He answered it. "Hi, Diane."

"Hey, Bojack, how are you?"

"In need of a long vacation," Bojack moaned. "How are you?"

"I'm just calling to see if you've seen Todd," Diane said. "He's been missing for two days and Mr. Peanutbutter and I are struggling with his political campaign without him."

"No, I haven't," Bojack said. "If I see him, I'll send him back to you." He turned the phone off.

"Bojack!" Hollyhock cried again.

"I'm coming!" But his phone rang again and he annoyingly answered it. "HELLO!"

"Bojack, it's Emily," replied the female voice.

"Don't tell me; you want to know where Todd is."

"Well, my presentation in Ohio is about to begin in an hour and he still hasn't turned up for his special seat I saved for him. I'm really worried about him."

"If I see him, I'll tell him you called," Bojack said. "Good luck with your presentation." Then his phone rang off. After his friends calling him about Todd, Bojack saw how much he meant to them. He wondered about whether he should go look for him or not. The only thing he was unsure about was even if he did find him, would he be able to persuade him to come back if he didn't want to? After what he did to Emily, he thought he had zero chance, let alone a tiny one.

"BOJACK!" Hollyhock screamed.

"ALL RIGHT! I'M COMING!" Bojack screamed as he re-entered his house.


	3. Chapter 3

Penny came into her dorm room, feeling exhausted. It had been a long challenging day with doing three of her exams. She was glad they were over, but she couldn't help worrying about how well she had done them and the remaining last two exams still to come.

"What do you think?" Todd asked.

Penny looked around her small dorm room and she was amazed at how tidy it was. "Wow! I'm impressed, Todd."

"Well, it's all part of the job," he said modestly.

"Well, I still consider myself luckier than most to know someone like you," she said. "Thank you very much." She kissed him on the lips. "How's your charity business coming on?"

Todd had been staying in Penny's dorm room for four weeks now. He had been given a part time job as a cleaner in the dorm rooms and no one minded that he was sharing a dorm room with a student. While Penny was doing her exams, he was busy making sure her room was tidy in the morning and cook her food at night. By that for the latter, he meant getting them pizza and Mexican takeaways to share. He was getting on with her friends and they liked him more than just for cleaning their rooms; they found him to be funny, charming and all around very interesting.

After the dorm rooms were clean as the gym coach's whistle, he had been developing a brand new charity business on her old laptop. He called it Clean Clouds. It was about cleaning the environment with activities such as planting new trees and encourage the world to stop smoking harmful cigarettes and run everything on eco-friendly energy.

"Yeah, it's going great," Todd said. "In fact, some people here in Ohio have already signed up for volunteering. In fact, the mayor wants us to do some tree planting next weekend."

"That's really great," Penny said. "You sound like you're staying in Ohio."

"Well, I have no plans to go anywhere so far, but you may never know what happens in the future. Now, what do you want for tea tonight?"

"Actually, tonight I'm going to stay at my parents," Penny said. "Why don't you come with me? They'll love to meet you."

* * *

So Todd did. He was worried at first only because he never met them before, but after he said hello to Penny's mother Charlotte, father Kyle and brother Trip he started to feel relaxed. He was worried if they thought he was weird and if they were worried about Penny being with him, but when they sat down for dinner, they began to find him to be an interesting person and he found them interesting as well.

"Well, thank you for supporting Penny during her exams, Todd," Charlotte said. "She says you've started a charity business."

"Yeah, and it's going better than I thought it would," Todd said.

"Well, maybe your experience of running Cabracadabra has helped you prepare for it," Penny said. "I was thinking of volunteering for your charity… after I finished my exams, of course."

"Oh," Charlotte said. "I was hoping you would return to help at my shop. You know, to look good on your resume."

"But, Mom, I've helped you in your boring shop for years," Penny complained. "You got more staff and why don't you get Trip to help you?"  
"Because I am busy," Trip moaned.

"Busy with creating stupid app games that no one wants to play?"

"You just wait and see," Trip snapped back. "I'm going to make elder sisters like you look like losers."

As the siblings continued to fight, Charlotte turned to Todd. "Sorry about this, Todd. This always happen at the dinner table."

"It's nothing I'm not used to, Mrs. C," Todd said.

* * *

The next day, Charlotte and Kyle were going to a spa for a spa day and Penny had to go to back to college for her final exams. Todd volunteered to stay and keep an eye on Trip while he updated his Clean Clouds website.

"Todd, Penny tells me you're a creative guy," Trip said.

"Well, I do my best," Todd said modestly. "Is it about your games that you're trying to make?"

"Yeah. I just want your advice because... Penny is right. I am struggling and I don't know where to start."

"Right. Well, before we begin to write the storyline for this game of yours, the first thing we need to think about what type of video games we would like to play. So what kind of games do you like?"

"I like strategy games like _Clash of Clans_ and _Boom Beach_ ," Trip answered.

Todd smiled. "Good, that's the first step. Next step is to create the world, then the characters…"

* * *

Penny came back in the house, exhausted. She was amazed to Trip and Todd running around like they were celebrating.

"What are we celebrating?" she asked.

"I've proved you wrong, Penny," Trip said. "Todd has helped me create my first successful app game ever."

"What's it called?" she asked.

" _Newtopia_ ," Todd said.

"You gave up your rock opera so my brother can have a game?"

"Todd has received credit and we've agreed to split the payment every time the game makes payment."

"And how many players have bought it?" Penny asked.

"About five hundred players today."

Penny was amazed. "Wow! I'm so proud of you both." Then she turned to Todd. "But more proud of you, Todd."

"Thanks, Penny. May I ask how your exams went?"

"I'm just glad they're all over," she said. "That's all I'm saying."

"So how would you like to celebrate your success?"

"Just the two of us… in my bedroom."

Todd was unsure about it. He had only spent four weeks with Penny and felt like everything was happening too fast. He wondered if in two weeks, she would propose to him.

"I can see you're already looking to it," Penny said. "Come on. Let's celebrate."

He decided to stop worrying about it and just go with the flow as he followed her to her room.


	4. Chapter 4

It had been a stressful day for Bojack. He and Hollyhock had been searching for her mother all around L.A. to no luck and dealing with Beatrice. Tina Bear had enough for the day and said she needed to call it in earlier today. It was the fifth time she did that. Despite Bojack's protesting, Tina promised she would be back the next day and walked out before he could stop her. So he and Hollyhock was left to sort out Beatrice.

There was a knock on the door. Bojack hoped it was Tina coming back, but he was frustrated when he saw it wasn't. It was Mr. Peanutbutter.

"Hey, buddy, how are you doing?" he asked cheerily.

"I had a stressful day," Bojack complained.

"All right," Mr. Peanutbutter said, as he entered the house. "I was wondering if you've had any word from Todd. My presidential career is failing fast and I need him to help me get it back on track."

"Sadly, no," Bojack said. He wished Todd was here to help with his mother so he wouldn't have to do it.

"Henrietta, why did you let that drunk in?" Beatrice moaned.

Mr. Peanutbutter felt a bit offended. "I haven't been drinking."

"Don't worry," Hollyhock said. "She's suffering from dementia."

"Oh, that's a relief," Mr. Peanutbutter said, regaining his happiness.

"You know that's my mother you're talking about?" Bojack complained.

Then Princess Carolyn entered the house. "Bojack, tell me you've found Todd."

"You need him?"

"Yes, more than ever. Joshua Titan is pushing us to find something good for him to produce and my staff and I are all out of ideas. I was hoping to find Todd and see if he has anything to offer. They may be wacky but different to what most of us think which is what Mr. Titan is offering."

"Well, he's not here," Bojack said. "I haven't seen him for weeks."

Then his phone rang. He said it was Emily calling. He felt hesitant to answer due to the last time they saw each other but he answered it anyway. "Hey, Emily. How did your presentation go?"

"Yeah, it went well. Only I wish my best friend Todd was here to witness it. I haven't heard any word from him for months and I'm really worried about him."

"Well, if I see him, I will tell you immediately, okay?"

"Okay," Emily said. "Thanks, Bojack."

Then Diane came into the house.

"Don't tell me," Bojack said. "You want to know where Todd is?"

"No, I found him," Diane said.

Bojack, Princess Carolyn and Mr. Peanutbutter were surprised to hear that. "WHERE?" they all asked together.

Diane held her phone up and everyone looked at it. It was a news article about their friend Todd's successful charity taking affect in Ohio. Bojack backed away when he saw the girl deer next to him.

"What's up, Bojack?" Diane asked.

"Oh, nothing," he lied.

"Oh, come on," Mr. Peanutbutter said. "That's not what I call nothing. You looked so frightened like you saw a ghost. That reminds me of the time when I thought I saw a ghost back in my home town when actually it was just my neighbour. And it also reminds of the time I thought – "

"All right!" Bojack was finding his ghost story very annoying. "That girl deer helping Todd on that picture was the daughter of Charlotte Carson. Last time I saw either of them, they never wanted to see me for the rest of their lives."

"Henrietta, where are my cookies?" Beatrice demanded.

"But I'd rather go to Ohio to check on Todd than spend another second with her," Bojack said.

"Then let's go," Princess Carolyn said. "Time is running out."

"You're not leaving me here, are you, Bojack?" Hollyhock said.

"When she goes to sleep, you can look for your mother in the places you have yet to find," Bojack said.

Then they left poor Hollyhock with Beatrice.

"Henrietta, I need to go to the toilet," the old horse said.

Hollyhock groaned. She hoped it would be bedtime for Beatrice so she could go out to find her mother.


	5. Chapter 5

Graduation Day had arrived at Penny's college and she was nervous. She was grateful that her family and Todd were there with her. Despite not getting completely over her nervousness for today, she was still felt more relaxed with them being there with her than not at all. She felt relaxed when she finally collected the degree and saw how well she had done. She even got a special college award for effort. Her family and Todd were nothing but happy for her.

Soon they all sat down in the college's restaurant and had their delicious lunch. Then Charlotte looked ahead and thought she could see someone she never wanted to see again. "Bojack Horseman?"

Her family and Todd looked ahead.

It was Bojack Horseman. It looked like he was looking for something or something.

"Let's hope he's not looking for us," Charlotte said. "If he comes closer, don't make eye contact."

But of course Bojack did come closer to them. "Charlotte, first of all, it's good to see you. And congratulations on graduating through college, Penny. And before you either kill me or call the police, Charlotte, I just want to say I'm not here to upset any of you. I'm not even here to take Todd away from you. We just wanted to make sure he's all right, that's all."

"We?" Todd said. Then he was amazed to see his friends Princess Carlyon, Mr. Peanutbutter and Diane with Bojack. They were amazed to see to how well he was and how much he was needed back in Hollywoo.

Charlotte rose from her chair. "Everyone, shut up!" When they all did, she turned to Bojack. "How do you know Todd, Bojack?"

"Because… he was my best friend a year ago."

Penny gasped and glared at Todd. "Why didn't you tell me you were friends with Bojack?"

"It slipped my mind," Todd said. "And we're not friends anymore. Not since he had sex with my ex girlfriend, Emily."

Penny gasped again. "You mean, you have a girlfriend?"

"No, not exactly. Because I'm asexual."

"You keep telling me new stuff, I don't know if I can believe you or trust you anymore. I thought I knew you, but you've been lying to me this whole time." She started to burst into tears.

"I didn't lie, Penny," Todd said. "I forget a lot every now and then. I know I didn't tell you about these things, but it wasn't because I was trying to hide something or take advantage of you. So this was neither truth nor lie."

"Todd, I'm grateful for you rescuing from the sea and you giving me support through college, but with all this uncertainly…" She sighed and turned away. "I need you to go, Todd, and never ever come back into my life… ever." Tearfully, she got up and started to walk away.

The rest of her family got up. Kyle and Trip went after her while Charlotte gave Bojack a hard stare. "I won't kill you this time either, Bojack, but if you upset my family again like that, I fucking will." Then she turned around and rejoined her family.

Todd sadly just turned around to join his friends from Hollywoo.

"Todd, if it makes you feel any better – " Then Bojack shut himself up.

Before they got into Bojack's car, they were stopped by Trip. "If I don't see you again, Todd, I just want to say thank you for giving all of the advice you gave me to make awesome video games. You have been a true inspiration for me."

"You're very welcome, Trip," Todd said.

"Trip, come on!" Charlotte called from far away.

"I hope to see you again soon, Todd," Trip said. Then he ran to rejoin his family.

Todd entered the car and his friends all asked him questions about his suggestions to help them with their missions. The only one who didn't say a word to him was Bojack and it wasn't because he was focusing on the driving.

* * *

A few days later, Todd was busy and happy again. He couldn't remember anything the last month and a half ago, let alone what upset him. He was delighted that Mr. Peanutbutter's presidential campaign was getting back on track. He couldn't believe Princess Carlyon telling him that the grumpy Joshua Titan liked his ideas for entertainment and were taking action on them. She couldn't believe it herself; she thought they were bizarre but she was grateful that Todd helped her to save her job. His Clean Clouds charity was getting more volunteers and spreading more awareness. Then one night during his busy night he bumped into Emily who was passing by.

"I'm sorry I missed your presentation, Emily," he said. "I got distracted, but not on purpose."

Emily chuckled. "I'm just glad it's not on purpose. I really missed you, Todd."

"Me too. I hear that your business is thriving."

"It is. Want to hear more about it over dinner? My treat."

"How about it be my treat? You know, to make up for not attending the most important night of your life."

"It wasn't the best night of my life. That night when I met you was."

That meant a lot to Todd. He just had to hug her. He even received a kiss from her.

"How about we spilt the bill?"

When they both agreed, they went off.


End file.
